I know many STO readers are critically peering at my choice for the #4 most significant site in US soccer history, Boston Common, and thinking: “What? That’s not a soccer venue!” But, Boston Common belongs on this list for one very important reason, and I will explain it to you now:
Boston Common may not be a soccer venue today, but in 1862 it was the site of the first ever soccer match in US history. A group called the Oneida Football Club gathered at Boston Common to form the first American soccer team, and that’s why the historic location belongs on this list.
Well, I am not really sure you could call the game Oneida played “soccer”. Because the Football Association had not placed their rules into code form yet, it is unlikely the match they played resembled soccer today. In fact, historians believe they would let players pick the ball up and run with it.
OK, so maybe it wasn’t really soccer, but it was the first step toward soccer in America. Boston Common is, of course, more famous as a camp during the Revolutionary War and a site of speeches by MLK and Pope John Paul II. But, it was the birthplace of American soccer, so it belongs on this list.
